Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAN CITY MAN UTD PEP: ONE DEFEAT & IT’S GONE
SMUULS
PABLO ZABALETA looks back on it as the moment when Manchester turned blue.
FA Cup semi-final day, 2011. When the first meeting between City and United at Wembley was won by Yaya Toure’s strike – and the club that had lived in the shadow of their rivals for so long emerged into the sunshine.
Toure found the back of the same net again the following month as City beat Stoke to lift their first trophy in 35 years – and, a decade on, they are closing in on a fifth Premier League title while their neighbours are left to pine for Sir Alex Ferguson.
For Zabaleta, the Argentine who became an Etihad cult hero after joining City just a few days before Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in the summer of 2008, knocking United out was a watershed moment.
“Even after the takeover, when the new owners had started signing big players, all we got when we played United was disappointment,” he said.
“There was a 4-3, when Michael Owen scored the winner in injury time, a last-minute goal by Paul Scholes at the Etihad, and a defeat in the semi-final (of the League Cup) when Wayne Rooney scored at the end.
“That wasn’t by accident, it was because Ferguson had built a winning mentality.
“When we played them at Wembley, the most important thing that season was to qualify for the Champions League for the first time – but it was the perfect game to show we could be winners.
“It was the day when we told United that we could beat them, that we could beat any team and
that now we would fight for trophies.
“It was a huge step forward to beat United and win the FA Cup. I think it created the mentality that has made City the best team in England over the last 10 years.”
Zabaleta can now laugh at the knee-high challenge that earned Scholes a late red card.
“Perhaps Paul knew what losing that game to City would mean,” he added.
United went on to clinch the title that season, but the next Premier
League meeting at Old
Trafford saw City run riot 6-1.
Later in the campaign, Vincent Kompany’s header put Roberto Mancini’s men top of the table on goal difference on a febrile night at the Etihad.
A victory at Newcastle and that dramatic last-day win over Queens Park Rangers secured City’s first title since 1968.
Although Ferguson reclaimed the crown before retiring in 2013, City have been champions three times since.
And Pep Guardiola’s side go into today’s derby sitting 14 points clear of their rivals.
It has been a huge shift of power – and not one Zabaleta envisaged when he
arrived in a £6.5million deal from Espanyol for a nine-year spell in which he became a City legend.
Zabaleta, who retired last summer after three years with West Ham, said: “When I first came to Manchester, it was unthinkable that City would become better than United.
“The owners knew that they had to build a structure and have the right people running different areas of the business.
“When Khaldoon (Al Mubarak) became chairman, it was more important than signing Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne.
“Khaldoon (left) makes every player feel part of the family. He is a great man who has played the most important role in City’s success. He is always talking to the players, asking if they are happy, asking about your family, if you need something.
“That’s why players, who could have played for any club, stay with City for nine or 10 years.”
Zabaleta added: “When some people talk about Manchester City, it is all money, money, money.
“But money can’t buy you love – and I can tell you that, once you play for City, you feel the love.
“When players look at joining a new club, it is not history that is most important, but the future.
“The owners haven’t just built a team. They built a new training ground, improved the stadium and developed the local area.
“It’s been a massive commitment, not just to Manchester City but the city of Manchester.”
Khaldoon makes every player feel part of the family. great man He is a and has been most important success in City’s
PEP GUARDIOLA has warned his Manchester City players they are just one defeat away from seeing their Quadruple dream perish.
City go into today’s Manchester derby on course to lift the title for the third time in four seasons.
They meet Tottenham in next month’s Carabao Cup final, have an FA Cup quarter-final date with Everton and are well placed to reach the last eight of the Champions League after beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0.
But boss Guardiola refuses to talk about his team making history and he revealed how a fear of failure has been the driving force behind a record 21-game winning run.
He said: “In the cups, in the Champions League, it can take one game and you are out.
“That has to be the warning, to be careful, to keep your feet on the grass and move forward.
“Sometimes, when you are fighting for the Premier League for a long time, you also become incredibly focused on the other competitions.
“But sometimes, when you win something, you can drop a little bit and it is more difficult.
“I said to the guys recently the only way to arrive at the best moment in the cups and the league is to be focused all the time.
“At the moment it is going well, everything is perfect and City are winning. But we could do the same and lose. The most important thing in world football is that when everyone says something is going to happen, normally it doesn’t.
“We are good. We’ve had incredible results and got a lot of points – winning 15 games in a row in the Premier League is incredible.
“But let’s try to extend the run. You are only so good when you are focused only on the next game.”
City will set a new club record of 29 unbeaten games – if they avoid defeat today.
And while Guardiola admitted he has been sleeping much better since Tottenham became the last team to beat City on November 21, he insists he will not make a final judgement until the end of the season.
He added: “I told the players what we have done is incredible – but only after we have won the title can we say, ‘That’s it’.
“For the last three months, every night you sleep better and every day you train better because, if you win, it gives everyone confidence. These three months belong to us.”